that's a big question. they clearly can't have an opening in the treasury secretary's post right now. so it would leave the white house and the administration in a lurch if he were to, you know, really plan an exit without a clear succession plan. but treasury secretary geithner is clearly exhausted. >> but that is exactly why it stee seems to me so odd. it sounds like what people are expecting out of this white house when it comes to economics these days, so maybe it's just par for the course. jeff, does it strike you as just kind of bad politics, bad timing? what's your take on this? >> i don't think anyone in the world cares much who's the treasury secretary. people care that the economy is not recovering, and he is the leading representative of it other than the president himself. things were getting better in may. they stopped getting better. this is a problem in substance, and it's a problem politically. shuffling around the boxes doesn't matter, but the lack of a sense that anything is getting better